Sports
NCAA Final Four: TV Schedule, Game Time, Preview, Betting Lines and Predictions
Louisville Cardinals face Wichita State without Kevin Ware, who's out after a gruesome leg injury. Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway Jr. and the Michigan Wolverines face Syracuse Orange.
Louisville Cardinals vs. Wichita State Shockers
When: 6:09 p.m. (PST) Saturday.Where: Georgia Dome in Atlanta
Betting lines: Louisville is favored by 10 points with 133 points as the over/under.
Predictions: ESPN experts unanimously say Louisville wins.
Preview:
Detroit Free Press:
Louisville is the overall No. 1 seed for the entire NCAA tournament field. It plays a suffocating defense and pressures teams all over the floor. Teams struggle to get the ball up the court and often are well into the shot clock before they get into their offense. Wichita State is attempting to play much the same way as the Cardinals with its "Play Angry" mantra it adopted six weeks ago. The Shockers are out to shock the world and if Louisville isn't careful with the ball it could be in trouble.
Los Angeles Times:
The loss of Kevin Ware, who is out with a broken leg, hurts the Cardinals, a team that relies on its full-court press. It will be up to Tim Henderson to pick up some of Ware's slack. Wichita State really has no inside answer for the 6-11 Dieng. The Shockers have used undersized Carl Hall during the tournament, but 7-foot reserve Ehimen Orukpe will likely need to use four or five of his available fouls to make Dieng work for his points and rebounds.
Michigan Wolverines vs. Syracuse Orange
Game time: 8:49 p.m. (PST) Saturday.Where: Georgia Dome in Atlanta
Betting lines: Michigan is favored by 1.5 points with 130 points as the over/under.
Predictions: ESPN experts are evenly divided with half picking Michigan and the other half going with Syracuse.
Preview:
Bleacher Report:
Syracuse has been outstanding at defending the three-point line so far in March, allowing opponents to connect on just 15 outside shots in four games for a low-grade percent of just 17.2. While Syracuse has defended the outside well, it hasn't faced a team like Michigan yet, either.The Wolverines have been one of the best teams from the outside in March. Shooting 40.2 percent as a team from downtown, it seems each of Michigan's starting guards (Trey Burke, Glenn Robinson III, Tim Hardaway Jr., Nik Stauskas) have had a productive game from deep.
Athlon Sports:Where Syracuse has three McDonald’s All-Americans, Michigan’s best player -- and perhaps the best player in the country -- was a three-star recruit in Trey Burke. And where Syracuse is a player on the national stage each season, Michigan has needed decades to overcome NCAA sanctions from the Fab Five era. Syracuse has waited a decade to be back at the Final Four, but Michigan has waited twice as long.
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